They’re still a long way from being perfect, but the Police and Fire pension funds for the City of Galesburg are getting better.
The Galesburg City Council Monday night received reports on the pensions. The downside is that both are still far away from being fully funded.
“Both funds are now back up above 50 percent funded,” said Eric Hanson, City Manager. “They’re trending in the right direction. We’ve made gains the last two or three years. The city has made it a priority to send additional funding to the pension funds. With some market help, that has certainly provided us some gain.”
Hanson talked to Galesburg’s Morning News on WGIL prior to Monday night’s meeting.
Pension funding has long been a statewide problem, Hanson says, driven by any of a number of factors.
“Slow to the chase were the actuarial assumption changes that needed to be made,” said Hanson. “Some of it was driven by enhancements. Some of it was not funding at the property tax or whatever funding source level that cities aren’t funding it at a level they needed to offset.”
Hanson says consolidating state police and fire pensions funds into one system has also helped, saving money on things like fees.
